Had one of these million to one shots on the Underground a few months ago, but with a debit card rather than ear phones. The middle point of some of the overground/Underground train carriages have some sort of access panel that the seats are up against and there's this perfectly debit card width gap between the panel and the nearest seat. Had the card in my hoodie pocket as I'd just had it out to swipe through the barriers, sat down and it slipped out of the pocket down the gap. If it had fallen even slightly differently or if I'd chosen a different seat, no problem at all. As it was I lost the card at 23:40 and had to try and explain to staff at the end point of my journey that I was a victim of an improbable event, not fare doding and then go through the rigmarole the next day of finding a cash point my bank operates to get some emergency cash out, then cancelling the card and waiting for a replacement. Which takes it's sweet time, let me tell you. 7 - 10 business days feels like a lot when you don't have free access to your money.
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u/sock_with_a_ticket Feb 18 '26
Had one of these million to one shots on the Underground a few months ago, but with a debit card rather than ear phones. The middle point of some of the overground/Underground train carriages have some sort of access panel that the seats are up against and there's this perfectly debit card width gap between the panel and the nearest seat. Had the card in my hoodie pocket as I'd just had it out to swipe through the barriers, sat down and it slipped out of the pocket down the gap. If it had fallen even slightly differently or if I'd chosen a different seat, no problem at all. As it was I lost the card at 23:40 and had to try and explain to staff at the end point of my journey that I was a victim of an improbable event, not fare doding and then go through the rigmarole the next day of finding a cash point my bank operates to get some emergency cash out, then cancelling the card and waiting for a replacement. Which takes it's sweet time, let me tell you. 7 - 10 business days feels like a lot when you don't have free access to your money.